1. I have always wanted to know what are You influenced and inspired by ?
Greg Downey: I first got into things from listening to the Prodigy and old Carl Cox mix tapes. I was totally blown away by the music and in no time I had my own decks. From here I practiced a lot, spent a few seasons in Ibiza, and then finally moved to England to pursue my career. DJing was first, then I started to produce my own music in order to help develop as an artist. I have great respect for Paul van Dyk. He has always been my favorite producer over the years and as a DJ his sets are always pumping and exciting. Eddie Halliwell is unreal, an amazing talent who is at the top of his game. Dave Clarke, I love him, my favorite DJ if I ever got a chance to go clubbing. Dark, twisted and off the wall. Legend!
2. I know for a fact that Your main style is Trance, which I love the most too, but I also know that it is hard to stick with the same genre nowadays, so what else You are into lately ?
Greg Downey: I have always played across the board rather than just trance. I also like Tech-Trance, Techno, Progressive, tech house and all these styles are included in my sets.
3. What is the idea behind one of Your tracks, called 'Stadium' registered on Vandit ?
Greg Downey: There was no real idea behind "Stadium" apart from trying to come up with a good trance track. I just started on it and worked hard until the finish. The aim was to get it signed to Vandit so it was nice when it happened.
4. Being from London, where I am as well, please share with us and my London crew, where we can easily catch You in a hot summer night of Saturday, or almost during the weekend, where is Your residential club or if You have a 'right spot' for the entire summer ?
Greg Downey: It's funny because even though I live in London I very rarely play in London, this is because there aren't’t as many trance nights here anymore. I do still play for the "Gallery" sometimes though. I am playing for "Peach" when they start up again in September, this will be at Hidden club in Vauxhall. I don't hold a weekly residency anywhere because it would be impossible to play in all the other places I travel to. In the UK you can catch me regularly at Godskitchen, Gatecrasher, Slinky, Goodgreef, Fire It Up, Inside Out and Lush.
5. I have an off topic question now. When I have first heard Your remix of Dobenbeck featuring Joanna 'Please Don't Go', I was thinking that`s a remix of Sophie Ellis Bextor, somehow do You agree with me that Joanna sounds like Sophie in a way or another ?
Greg Downey: It's funny you should ask that, a few others have said the same thing and yeah I agree. I think Joanna has a great voice and the vocal in “Please Don’t Go” is quality.
6. Since You have finished one of Your latest remixes, this time coming from Mansun with his awesome smashing cutting edge chooone 'Wide open space' and also having a lot of support from almost all Djs from BBC 1 Radio 1, is there anyone else, hammering the remix nowadays ?
Greg Downey: Yeah it got lots of spins from Eddie Halliwell and Judge Jules on Radio 1 which was great. Paul Oakenfold is playing it at all his gigs on his current tour of USA, I was really pleased because he was the one who did the old Perfecto remix years ago.
7. What really made You move from Belfast to London and how`s the EDM scene when You try to compare them two ?
Greg Downey: I moved from Belfast because the Irish scene was quite difficult to get a break and it was also not so big. England at that time had many more nights, and still does in fact. However back then I hadn't’t even started producing so it was all about DJing. Nowadays it wouldn't’t really matter where I lived because most people know me from the tracks I make. I still play in Ireland a lot though, I’m actually in Belfast this weekend!
8. Please tell me how`s the collaboration with Annika Schulman and her management so far and also, please share with us the feeling You had at the one of Your latest big venues You had, for the 3 days in a row, the Sweden, Stockholm - Estonia, Tallinn trip, at the Monday Bar event.
Greg Downey: Working with Annika works really well, not only is she good at her job but she is a good friend too AND she can almost drink as much as me The Monday Bar Cruise was great. I wasn't’t djing until 3.00am on the Sunday morning so I had Friday night to relax, well I wouldn't’t exactly say it was relaxing. Lots of drinking and little sleep, carried onto the Saturday daytime on the Sun Deck. I actually played another set in the daytime just for fun, it was a great atmosphere and a great day and I had a greatly sun burnt face!
9. You are considering a living legend in the London EDM scene, You have been successful at it for a long time, but what is it about that keep You involved ?
Greg Downey: Generally just working hard and constantly trying to make better music than my last tracks. I love the job I do and I am fortunate enough to have a chance of fulfilling my childhood dream so you have to make the most of it and work hard.
10. What would You say is the most satisfying part of what You do ?
Greg Downey: I love DJIng, more than anything, especially to an energetic crowd, that’s that biggest buzz for me. I love the small intimate venues as much as the big events so DJing is number one. I also love the feeling when I have completely finished a track that I am excited about, there is always a great sense of relief because making music can be very hard work at times.
11. Just before we are about to finish this exclusive interview with You Greg, is that anything You would love to shoutout to the TranceSound.net members or anyone reading this interview ?
Greg Downey: Yeah, I have a new EP that has just come out on Discover Dark with two techy tracks, King Dong / Grade A. These are very different to my normal trance sound but are doing really well. I have also recently remixed Paul van Dyk's track "New York City". I was over the moon to be asked and this will be out on Vandit in August so keep an eye out for that. Other than that you can find out all news and updates on my myspace page www.myspace.com/gregdowney, see you soon.
Interview made by Cosmin Lukacs (TranceSound.net admin/founder)
Links:
Greg Downey official website
Greg Downey @ MySpace
Cosmin Lukacs official website
Cosmin Lukacs @ MySpace
